I'm a 25 year old female born and bred in good ol' London Town. Been playing around with Primal for about a year now but what with stupid hours at work, amazing restaurants, friends cooking dinner, and more and more excuses, I haven't managed to stick with the nutrition plan. I'm 5' 6" and fluctuate between about 134-140 pounds - by no means overweight but the wheat belly is the problem, and I need to start listening to my own aversion technique (my stomach simply can't handle bread and pasta-esque products and lets me know pretty quickly!).
Used to look a lot more toned and after moving out of my parents' home and not being able to afford a gym membership any more what with rent 'n' all, my exercise levels are at an all time low, so I need to start incorporating more exercise into daily life.
Amazingly, a very close friend of mine has just been turned onto Paleo by his personal trainer, and this has been a wake up call for me - someone who knows what I'm talking about finally, therefore someone who will hold me accountable if I don't stick to a 30 day challenge, woohoo! It's weird how it works, but I feel so much more dedicated now I know someone else is there doing it alongside me (although his version is far stricter with 'cheat' days so I'm trying really hard to get him reading up on MDA to make his own mind up and not just doing what his PT says!).
I'm going to focus on the nutrition side of Primal for the moment, because my exercise time is taken up with training for the Moonwalk (a marathon walk through the night) in 4 weeks. Once that's over I hope to get back into running, weights, and hopefully boxing. I think 80/20 is sensible for my diet at the moment because I've been having some carbs during training walks, and I don't have the same reaction to potatoes and rice as I do wheat/gluten products - nevertheless I will still keep these to a minimum (usually when going to friends' houses for dinner, they always make a bloody risotto!). I also eat yoghurt and some cheese because I don't have lactose intolerance and I have premature osteoporosis so am aware of giving my body calcium etc! I'm not going to count calories or track protein/fat/carb levels obsessively because I have far too much going on at work, so for the moment it's about changing my diet and listening to my body, we'll see if that helps shift a few pounds before summer holidays!

Right! So I'm on day 4! It's been going well, lots of meat and veg, possibly too much fruit but I say if it keeps me away from the beige stuff let's go with it for the mo.... See what happens today, I have dinner in a restaurant to come....

04-16-2013, 03:10 AM

spuggygirl

Hi there and well done for making the start.

From reading your post, I think you know what you need to do!

By all means have some carbs during your moonwalk training if you feel they help (although in all honesty I don't think they're necessary), but do yourself a favour and stay away from the wheat otherwise you're just putting yourself straight back to day 1.

Good luck.

04-16-2013, 07:07 AM

Livlytique

Thanks spuggygirl! I've been on MDA for ages now (longer than my Feb '13 join date) so I should know what to do ha it's just a case of not self-sabotaging any more, which I seem to do every time...like I can't believe that I can socialize and do all the usual things but don't have to eat the crap that comes with these occasions.

You're totally right about staying away from wheat - my dad made sandwiches for our 16 miler on Sunday; I only ate one because I'd not had time to sort my own snacks out and decided I wouldn't feel guilty for going non-paleo that day. But boy did my stomach rebel yesterday! Felt horrific all morning, like my body was purging toxins. Sigh. Not worth it, is it?!

I've been reading so many articles and success stories on here that suggest your appetite naturally decreases on a Primal plan, but have been waiting for that to happen with me. More often than not over the last week or so, I've been constantly peckish and trying not to overload on almonds to satisfy the rumbles in my belly. But today! It's 2.30pm and I have only just had my lunch - I'm usually champing at the bit by 12.30pm!

It may be nothing, but I think it's a start. Especially since my colleague just got back from Istanbul and there's a massive box of Turkish delight on the desk; I haven't been tempted one bit :)

I also managed 15 full press ups this morning, so proud of my growing strength heh.

So, today, nothing too different:

Breakfast - boiled egg, blueberries, strawberries, organic natural yoghurt, almonds & ground flaxseed, coffee
Snack - banana with some hazelnut butter spread on it
Lunch - salad with avocado and feta, plum
Dinner - my friend is cooking, I've warned her I'm strictly 'gluten-free' at the mo so we'll see what happens.... Edit: stuffed aubergines (eggplant) yum! With onion, garlic, feta (living off that cheese at the mo it seems!), tomatoes, pine nuts, herbs and olives. Some courgette (zucchini) on the side. Then strawberries and an apple for dessert, perfect.

Took me a long time (and a whole load more fat in my diet) to really decrease my appetite. It still is quite big but I now find that I don't get the kind of hunger where I could quite happily gnaw off my own arm...it's much more understated and manageable these days....just need to be patient :)

04-17-2013, 12:48 PM

Livlytique

Haha I'm such a big eater it's ridiculous. My team at work must think I'm crazy, I keep pulling carrot sticks and bits out of my bag and desk drawer. Today's hunger was so manageable I couldn't believe it. Though it could be the time in my cycle, dreading when the hormones come crashing down in a couple of weeks...!

04-18-2013, 04:50 AM

Livlytique

Day 6

Feeling a bit crap today, think it's work stress mainly - a bit overwhelmed with a big client presentation I've got to get done for tomorrow morning and I can't stay late tonight so I've got the headphones in and attempting to focus on that. Sigh. This is the sort of day where all I want to do is buy a massive bar of chocolate and run off the sugar high. My body doesn't feel hungry in the slightest, and yet my mind keeps going 'get some chocolate, get some chocolate!' despite the fact it's still morning. Amazingly, for the first time ever, I can actually tell that my stomach isn't responding to my mind and I feel like I can ignore the psychological craving. I definitely think I'm going through a sort of 'mindful' transition phase right now, which makes me really happy. Just want to get this work done and then I'll be ecstatic!

Just wanted to say hello and yes, when first I started I ate [I]all the time[/I] too. First my colleagues were baffled at how much I ate, then they were baffled when I stopped snacking. Good for you for identifying a stress craving as opposed to a hunger craving!

04-18-2013, 05:08 AM

spuggygirl

I still have 2 days before TOTM where I just seem to be hungry all of the time. I tend to just go with it, but keep it clean....doesn't seem to do me any harm, then everything goes back to normal.